78 comments on “Open mike 21/12/2012”

… More than 100 people were lined up on Hobson St and round a corner into a neighbouring lot yesterday, some since 5am, to receive charity – Christmas food parcels and donated gifts for children.

The majority did not want to appear in the newspaper. “Maybe if I had won something or it was something lucky,” a woman said.

Ms Robertson said the mission’s clients were struggling with unemployment and entitlement cuts. “They’re losing options.”

And the continuing recession was adding people to the queue as those on low incomes fell into the same poverty cycle as beneficiaries.

“As an agency we really try to get people off benefits and employed – make life better than it’s been,” Ms Robertson said. “But right now we’re just alleviating poverty, because there’s no place to go.”…

That’s appalling. John Key, Bill English, Paula Bennett – this is the result of your ‘tax switch’ and benefit restructuring… don’t say no-one told you at the time. I guess the government ministers have disappeared for their summer hols so aren’t seeing this. A twitter bombardment so they can take a look may be in order methinks.

And those politicians’ salaries are being backdated by months! They’re on Cloud 9 looking down on the ants below.

A quote I’ve read applies. Timothy Noah has written The Great Divergence: America’s inequality crisis and what we can do about it, reviewed by the Listener 18/8/2012.

Noah says that although America was an angrier place in the 1960s, when it was riven by conflict over issues like civil rights and the Vietnam War, “It’s meaner today. There are quieter resentments at work in our society today, a deeper, quieter estrangement.”

Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film The Dictator has led to the praise typical of movie reviewers for corporate publications. Baron Cohen, according to most of these reviewers, is something of a maverick: an iconoclastic outsider, an unorthodox entertainer, an erstwhile rebel, a genius provocateur. None of these superlatives is accurate.

What is Baron Cohen, then? Lots of descriptors work: a gifted role-player, an excellent self-promoter, a potty-mouthed prankster, a religious zealot, a white male who uses his privileges of race and gender to exploit people who cannot access those privileges.

There is one descriptor that is too infrequently applied to him: Zionist shill. Plenty of writers have noted Baron Cohen’s ardent Zionism, but few have suggested that his Zionism should cast him in a negative light (“Before ‘The Dictator’ and ‘Borat’, friends recall, Sacha Baron Cohen was a very nerdy, very funny, Israel-oriented guy,” The Times of Israel, 11 May 2012). Even fewer have examined how that Zionism visibly influences his thematic choices and public role-playing.

His commitment to Zionism is troublesome for numerous reasons: it supports the historical and current dispossession of Palestinians, situates him as an advocate of militaristic state power, calls into question his ethical commitments, and places him in Hollywood’s safest political space, that of fealty to Israel, a space in which the title of maverick loses all significant meaning.

It isn’t difficult to find evidence of Baron Cohen’s politics in his invented characters. While there are obvious iterations of Zionism in the dictator, Shabazz Aladeen, tomfoolery on behalf of Israel is also evident in earlier characters Brüno and Borat. Through both characters, Baron Cohen engaged in questionable behavior, what can accurately be called outright exploitation.

With Borat, for example, Baron Cohen named an actual country, Kazakhstan, when the concept behind that movie could have accomplished the same comic purpose with a made-up nation. Even with a made-up nation, however, Borat’s appearance as a stupid, swarthy, sexist Muslim conflated the Third World with pre-modern sensibilities, a feat that could be accomplished only through an unspoken juxtaposition of whiteness and modernity.

Yeah, you’re still a-flailing and a-failing Mozza. Really disapointed that you could spend a couple days moaning about Populuxe not providing proof of an assertation, then failing so spectacularly when you are asked to do the same. Your credibility obviously doesn’t mean much to you.

I can, however, understand why you want to have a go at me. I recall you making a huge song and dance over a transcript I did last year of a particularly incompetent Hekia Parata interview, where most of what she said was “ummm, ahhh, errrrr, aaaaaahhhhhmmmm”. Hilariously, at one point she even used the immortal phrase “a variety of various variables”. Ms. Parata was apparently trying to play the role of a Minister of the Crown, but anybody who tuned in late would have thought she was a particularly dim, uneducated talkback caller.

Your stated “objection” was that my transcript, which I did from memory five minutes after the broadcast, was not one hundred percent verbatim. Your real objection was that she was trying to defend a corrupt and destructive government “policy” that you, for some unconvincing reason, support. For those who enjoy seeing a second-rate mind o’er-taxed, here’s that remarkable Parata performance again, followed by Lanthanide’s complaint, and a pettifogging performance by our friend Te Reo Putake, then operating under his English moniker…

SBC is an actor supported by Hollywood which is used to sell *stories*, it also does a pretty good job at bullying governments, or lets say using their tools inside of governments to give them favours, a la Warners, John Key.

Selling stories, read branwashing the simple minded while they are incapable of defending the limited thoughts they do have, then become shaped into what the programming arm woops I mean Hollywood, want you to relate to.

Of course SBC is being used, just like almost any named politician, *official*, actor and so on, you could name….

Edit Lanthanide, were you being ironic when saying you skip over others posts, jog along!

Te Reo, you’ll note that I stressed you were correct, “strictly speaking”, as in, yes, I posted Ms. Parata’s cretinous utterances from memory, rather than from a tape recording. You yourself had to admit I got it right, however—even if I missed out several lines of “ummmmm”, “ahhhhhh” and “aaahhhhhhhhm” from this floundering embarrassment who enjoys the full support of the Prime Minister.

Thanks for the advice, McFliper. I WILL take that walk!

Lanthanide, thanks for reading me so attentively. I appreciate and enjoy your comments, even when we disagree occasionally.

It’s really way worse than that, strip the ‘growth’ currently occurring in Christchurch out of the figures and we have a 2 step economy which allows the Slippery National Government to claim an annual 2% growth for the total economy,

The ‘reality’ is that ‘the rest’ of the economy shrank over the year by 2%, it then becomes easy to see why there are lines of people lining up around the block in Auckland looking to receive Christmas charity,

The effects of the high New Zealand dollar can be said to have had a large negative effect upon the overall New Zealand economy with the rest of the -2% GDP ‘growth’ being ‘owned’ by the idiot from Dipton who has been running deliberate depressive economics,

I have been watching as the figures unfold and have had cause to think, ( i know, dangerous), that the village idiot from down Dipton way has been deliberately depressing the overall economy so as to have the Christchurch re-build occur while keeping inflation within the Reserve Bank’s inflation target band,

I take issue with the fact that the Christchurch rebuild is being classed in the GDP figures as ‘growth’ at all, ‘growth’ it obviously isn’t as that rebuild is in terms of bean counting the recovery of a loss of ‘growth’ that has previously occurred in the economy,

From a ‘human’ point of view, (as opposed to dry bean counting), if the village idiot is in fact ‘proved’ to have been deliberately suppressing economic activity in the wider New Zealand economy so as that ‘re-build’ does not breach the inflation target band i am getting the rope out of the shed and over the holidays will begin the tedious task of fashioning a noose,

There’s one hell of a load of human misery inherent in a 2% slide in over-all GDP and to think this may be occurring for no other reason than to make the village idiot from Dipton look good makes the blood boil….

Don’t forget we now need to take growth out of the economy to restock EQC coffers…
…then there is all the restrengthening and rebuilding poor design systemic to buildings,
public and private, up and down the country.

Its like kiwi kids are not taught the for-want-of-a-horse-the-battle-was-lost. Since the
higher up the totem poll a person gets, the more disinclined they are to admit error and
resign, the mor likely they build CTV building, or Pike River Mines, or roads in the
wrong place (or of the wrong design for peak oil, or not invest in flat straight low energy
rail lines), or think leaky homes are cool looking, or that climate change impacts never
happen even if we weren’t globally forcing the biosphere with huge forces (from tarmac to
digging up prehistoric carbon and burning it).

If you build a road, don’t get pathetic and make the pedestrians walk around flower beds
to cross doubling their time through the intersection, the list goes on on poor social
design in NZ. For want of a nail, the horse shoe was not ?clod?, for want of the horse
the king could not lead the army, for want of a king the battle was lost, for want of
victory the kingdom was lost, all for one nail.

And he has every reason to feel that way. The polls have National in the same positions as at the elections of 2008 and 2011. Labour are back at the same position they had when they lost in 2008 and where they were for most of the time under Phil Goff.
Key should feel satisfied, despite multiple screw-ups by his very second rate team.

Key is getting this result because Labour has not changed it’s strategy in that time. If you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result.
The galling frustration of being a Labour supporter at this time is watching the leadership repeat the same strategy that failed us under Phil.

The strategy of trying to get high personal ratings for the Leader (Goff/Shearer) involved suppressing the better front bench people. That has proven to be a failed failed failed failed strategy for the past four years.
Had they allowed each spokesperson space to perform we would have been stronger on a wider front. A wider connection between the Caucus and the Public would emerge. Much of the membership’s unease about the current “kitchen cabinet” would not have arisen. And the feckless macho demotion of Cunliffe would not have happened.
And we woukd be at 40%+ .

The political comment on radionz was that Key is seen as blokey, cheery sort and he’s advancing that image as when yesterday he was on some radio program doing something that appeals to the pub crowd, dancing and singing maybe. Meanwhile back in parliament, they are enjoying a ‘well-earned’ holiday, and government has to bump and grind its way through its problems. Gather round everybody, smile, cheeeese!

Radio NZ has just reported (no link yet) that Brownlee had criticised the Court by saying that in his affidavit he did say that he had considered using the alternative powers. He said that the Court should have contacted him before making the decision to clarify matters and darkly that he was considering his legal options.

What a doofus. He really thinks that he lives or ought to live in a banana republic.

I also heard that Radio NZ report – and was dumbfounded by Brownlee’s comment as reported and bolded in your comment in terms of court process. Power really has gone to Brownlee’s head – not unsurprisingly.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Yourself, Lonely, Struggle
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Back, Long, Enough
Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Stationary orbit locked over southern seas.
Launching probe. HLM, you’re all go on green.
Commence your scan for intelligent life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? Tell me, what do you see?

Do you see anything? Or anyone?
Make sure they receive on all frequencies?

Breaking from orbit, lighting the upper skies.
Extend your search. HLM, Keep that eye on the prize.
Continue with plan to find intelligent life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? If you please. Broadcast for me.

If you hear anything, anyone.
We’re making first contact. I come in peace. Is there anyone home?
First you have to believe, I come in peace. I’m here to save the world.
Confirm you receive. M class planet diseased.

‘Cause you’ve got it so wrong, and before too long, you’ll fade away to dust.
And you need to hold on and be very strong to make the change you must.

Descending through climate over the Northern Isle.
Remember they’re hurt HLM, you’ll get quite a surprise.
Implement logic for inferior life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? Good luck, friend. Now bring them to me.

If you love anything, or anyone.
I’m making first contact. I come in peace. Please just pick up the phone.
I’m not here to deceive. I come in peace. We can save the world.
Please, confirm you receive. Confirm you receive.

‘Cause you’ve got it so wrong, and before too long, we’ll fade away to dust.
And you need to hold on and be very strong to make the change you must.
And you must. You are us.

I been eating a lot of sandwiches these past two weeks D. ; luncheon and chippies are my favourite on my budget along with a lot of avocado or salmon on Burgen toast, but then, thats our egalitarian society for ya
(I read that patronage, and punctuality, of Ak rail services are down D. reminds me of Alice and the Conductor; is your memory as good as mine )
still, what does not kill ya certainly makes ya stronger (and comparitively famous literary wise in H.B)

So this disgraceful regime is more ideologically extreme than Treasury. In any country that took politics seriously, John Banks would be serving time in prison now; instead he is given free rein to slash and rip at our education system.

How was it that teacher salaries were paid for15-20 years without major hassle, and then the NACT party changed to Novopay. Why the need for change you might ask!
Did I get it right that John Banks sold his shares in the company just before the change was implemented? Conflict of interest?

Reasons no one should trust the Grauniad
Reason No. 94: The Grauniad fears and resents dissenters

Bradley Manning was declared the Guardian‘s ‘person of the year’ in 2012. He beat Pussy Riot to win this accolade. The Guardian then published a tiny article to celebrate the fact, while carefully including the following ‘sour grapes’ comment:

‘The Guardian‘s 2012 person of the year vote has concluded and the winner, after some rather fishy voting patterns that belied earlier reader comments on the poll, is Bradley Manning, the US whistleblower on trial for leaking state secrets.’

No further article was commissioned in memory of Manning, and nothing was said about his torture and incarceration by the Obama administration. The editorial staff had obviously decided to throw the most muted celebration imaginable.

It seems the US State Department were not happy with the final results of the original poll, hence the need for this trashy piece of churnalism. On the positive side: most of the comments are against the article and most of the commentators seems to understand the pernicious agenda of the editorial staff. All of which is rather refreshing – don’t you think?

Hi Morrissey, and can you confirm how you would know the stories to be genuine?

The way I see it that the bigger the resources available, the easier it is to create big lies. Actors, script writers, directors, producers etc, the wonders of *Hollywood*

Indicated when you write about the BBC, Guardian etc, and your post today (sat) on the festival protest, you believe that Hollyood is a type of Zionist propagana machine, which it clearly is, I agree.
Following on from this, to me anyway makes it all very easy that due to resources, all of them, (take a look at how the occupy/arab uprisings, got front footed and taken over, re-directed/snuffed out etc). How does that happen, well its called creating the debate, and when resources are so plentiful and professionally employed, then not only can events be front footed, they can be created, played out and killed off with ease, while giving the illusion of *revolution* , or what ever it might be referred as. By the time the technology has been used against these *uprisings*, there is little likelihood that any genuine situation/movement that might have existed, will see the light of day!

What is wrong with Wellington International Airport LTD? Do they get the WTF award of the day or what?

“Airport fire service manager Daniel Debono confirmed that the appliances had been ordered last month from the Austrian manufacturer but declined to answer questions on the contract or tender process, citing commercial sensitivity…………”
The article goes on to quote Martin Simpson of Fraser Engineering in Lower Hutt who said “Their price had been lower than 2.8 million ( the price the contract has reportedly gone for), their tender had fully complied with the specifications and also included the first five years of maintenance”
So do you cite ‘commercial sensitivity’ when you know your decision is daft and that you have shafted NZ workers and businesses and know at some level that it is wrong but you don’t have the guts to face up to it?

Hi Rosie, one would needless have to pick the way through the complex mesh of relationships, but there will be a clear reason why the foreign firm was selected, and it will have nothing to do with process or proceedure, and everything to do with influence!

Shame, this is really just another shame, hidden behind *commercial sensitivty*

“one would needless have to pick the way through the complex mesh of relationships…………” Indeed……..
Infratil owns over 66% in Wgtn airport, the council own the rest.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infratil

Infratil also own airports in the UK and previously owned 90% of one in Germany. The “fingers in pies” scenario possibly comes into play and my guess its to do with Infratil’s influence rather than the Wgtn City Council. One things for sure, they don’t have any morals or any intention to repair their damaged reputation they have in Wgtn.

Yeah as soon as I saw the Infratil link, that was about where the effort to unravel the relationships ended, and will be the reason why the production went off-shore…

The real reasons are that the owners of the companies behind the Infratils of the world, have big foundations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, among others,and while the real puppet masters will be domiciled elsewhere, they are loyal to their own patch, NZ is nothing to them but another island to have control over, to be milked

So you’re right to say the Council will have had nothing to do with it.

It may be a high hope but we can only hope that Labour’s new ‘hands on’ approach to the economy will signal to all and sundry that IF it can be done here at the same or lower cost than elsewhere then HERE is where it’s done,

Infratril should in the new year perhaps seek a new company name, SCUM seems appropriate…

Just listened to an ‘interesting’ discussion on RadioNZ National’s Afternoon with Jim Moron, where one of His commenter’s blames ‘lifestyle’ choices for the hundreds of people lined up at the Auckland City Mission hoping for Christmas charity,

I beg to differ, it is not lifestyle choices, it is in fact LIFE, those who earn a decent salary make as many wrong choices in life as does the average beneficiary, it is a natural part of being human and we all at times make wrong choices,

The difference??? those getting a decent living wage when they make a wrong choice usually have the discretionary income to gloss over their previous mistakes,(some even have enough coin coming in to allow them that mistake over and over),

Those living upon benefits have no such luxury, a mistake made by a beneficiary may lead to weeks, months and even years of negative repercussions simply because the benefit system is carefully costed as the bare minimum requirement of the individual or family….

Aha, i have recently decided to switch off the afternoon offering from RadioNZ National,(nine to noon is also frequently suffering the same fate),

I only listened this afternoon as the topics were advertised befor-hand, the Auckland City Missioner put that egg firmly in His place except for the fact that His preconceived notions about beneficiaries and others lining up round the block for a charity Christmas made Him deaf to what She had to say…

I do realise that teacher’s pay is reasonably complex … but there is nothing new or difficult about pay systems. They’ve been around for decades and it’s impossible in this day and age to be getting it this wrong.

But is there anyone else listening to the endless litany of absurd errors thrown up by the Novapay debacle beginning to think that this might be a deliberate attempt to ‘break the education system’?

Anytime a cock-up is seemingly so bad , to do with what is a well known set of processes/systems, by a company with a “reasonable” track record, and it breaks the way it allegedly has, then its deliberate.

You can’t accidentally make this many errors

Apply the same to the ACC leaks, deliberate attempt to break down ACC.

Aha, here too, havn’t wanted to comment on what seems best described as ‘Hekia’s revenge’ befor as other than ‘the sense’ of the absurd continuous teachers pay ‘f**k-up’ there’s no evidence of it being deliberate,

It’s not just teachers that are effected, the no-pay debacle effects the schools as well as payments come straight out of the individual schools budgets…

Light rain fall.
End of hillside workshops.
People gathered in memorial.
MPs in the three, union flags a flutter,
I stood silently and grim.
Old dear friends deepest red greeted.
Last three stood and chatted, not leaving till the end.
Now another bastion lost.
Time to take a stand.
Will it be feb or in 2014.
Take a stand united together strong, divide we beg.

Jordan Williams tries, and mostly fails, to run amok on the Panel
The Panel, National Radio, Friday 21 December 2012

Panelists: Jim Mora, Bernard Hickey, Jordan Williams

There are any number of nasty, unsympathetic and smug right-wing commentators infesting public discourse in this country. One of the nastiest is Jordan Williams. People like him thrive when they are allowed to state their extreme views without being called to explain or defend them. Jordan Williams got away with it at the start of the programme, but was then called out by a fellow Panelist (Bernard Hickey) and a guest. As usual, Jim Mora did nothing, other than an embarrassing, wandery rant at halftime about the Mayan calendar….

After what seemed an eternity of petty and dull opening pleasantries, host Jim Mora brought up the first topic for discussion: the steep increase in poverty in Auckland, as advised by aid and welfare agencies. Jordan Williams immediately poured scorn on the idea that there was any poverty in this country. Mora said that the idea there was no poverty was the Rodney Hide position. Williams snorted and said, “That’s not what Rodney says.”

But it is “what Rodney says”, and both Mora and Hickey knew that. However, neither of them uttered a word of contradiction to that barefaced lie. Williams then went on to spend the next ten minutes scoffing at the Auckland City Mission’s Diane Robertson. Outrageously, he claimed that the stingy welfare payments to the poor are “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

This time, Hickey did not stay silent.

“Our taxes being used to pay welfare for the poor is ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’?” he said, slowly, mockingly, in tones of rising exasperation.

Williams, defiant, refused to modify or explain his statement. Sadly, Mora did not insist on his responding to Hickey’s challenge. He was allowed to carry on with his assault on Diane Robertson.

Later in the programme, Williams had a go at feminist campaigner Denise Ritchie, who is in the news today for her condemnation of the crude and sexist regime run by the CEO of Air New Zealand, Rob Fyfe. When she told Williams of the extreme and brutal hate comments directed at women following a series of demeaning advertisements, and of the harassment faced by female employees on Air New Zealand flights, he was forced to back down.

It’s a pity more people don’t take on smug right-wing bullies like this in similar fashion to Denise Ritchie.

At one point when he made an insinuation “that poverty may be about not enough income or lifestyle choices … but he didn’t know which” .. I said to my partner right there and then “I’d ban someone from the The Standard” for that kind of behaviour.

It was perfectly clear he was dog-whistling what he really believed, but was too gutless to own it.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10855577
Chief executive of Australian company Talent2 John Rawlinson said there was no reason for staff to go unpaid because they could get cash advances from their individual schools who would be reimbursed..
We as a family who has just experienced no pay yesterday – I should ring: Talent2? No, MOE ? No The school. And who is the innocent party in this group and they are the one to fix the issue. So our local headmaster has to spend their Christmas eve fixing my problem ? And as most schools have spent their budgets that these payments are to made out of. And on TV1 news an MOE official made the statement that in her opinion it will take 26 pay cycles (1 year) for confidence in the system to be established.
Rawlinson is correct in one aspect “there was no reason for staff to go unpaid” Shouldn’t that be a given and isn’t that what his company is paid to deliver?

I work in schools and was at one today and found Admin staff (who are supposed to be on holiday) at work trying to fix Payroll problems, asked how it was going I was told that Novopay was not accepting phone calls now and problems had to be emailed in, no response today so they will have to come in on Christmas eve to check, if no response back again the day after boxing day and on and on it ******* goes WTF

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Auckland Transport yesterday started the second stage of the Beach Rd cycleway which when finished should finally help to make the first stage as well as the Grafton Gully cycleway useful. The Beach Road walking and cycling project begins its… ...

As reported in The Intercept, a refreshingly frank take on a facet of modern “security” measures in airports: A second former Behavior Detection Officer manager, who also asked not to be identified, told The Intercept that the program suffers from… ...

In the book, Health Cheque, Geoff and I found that in terms of health, prevention is more effective than cure by a factor of four to one. So the Morgan Foundation retains an interest in the issue of prevention, which led… ...

In the book, Health Cheque, Geoff and I found that in terms of health, prevention is more effective than cure by a factor of four to one. So the Morgan Foundation retains an interest in the issue of prevention, which led… ...

Chris Lewis quickly backed down from the suggestion of a dairy moratorium in the Waikato, but environmentalists won’t let it go so easily. The Waikato Federated Farmers president now insists he merely raised the notion as a “straw man” at… ...

Help Is On Its Way: Winston Peters storms home in Northland, but his historic by-election victory has raised a whole new flurry of political questions.IT WAS WINSTON’S FINEST HOUR. The sheer scale of his Northland by-election victory had the… ...

A revolving cast of contributors from the Music 101 and Wireless teams showcase some of the best new music releases from the past week. Rihanna's 'BBHMM'. Rihanna - 'Bitch Better Have My Money' Is there any other pop… ...

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Christchurch Labour Members of Parliament have secured a meeting with Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon following the airline’s decision to cut its Christchurch to Tokyo summer flights. They are also calling on the Minister of Transport Simon Bridges to… ...

Andrew Little has reinstated Carmel Sepuloni as Labour’s Social Development spokesperson following the sentencing of her mother in the New Plymouth District Court today. “It has been a tough time for Carmel, but we both agreed it was appropriate she… ...

Many Kiwis will be wondering if the joke is on them when a raft of Government changes come into effect tomorrow, Labour Leader Andrew Little says. “First is ACC and National’s unwillingness to end its rort of Kiwi businesses which… ...

Labour is challenging the Government to reveal its plans to make housing more affordable through amending the Resource Management Act, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says. “Labour remains willing to consider the proposals on housing affordability on their merits and… ...

John Key has now been forced to admit that he never had the broad political support to gut the Resource Management Act, says Labour’s Environment spokesperson Megan Woods. “Cornerstone legislation such as the RMA should never be changed without genuine… ...

The Government must be more transparent around the draft investor state dispute settlements in the TPPA, says David Parker, Labour’s Export Growth and Trade spokesperson. “Labour is pro trade, and is proud of the FTA we negotiated with China, which… ...

The Green Party believes ensuring student and staff representation on university councils is important. National recently passed a law reducing the size of university governance councils while increasing the proportion of the members nominated by, guess who… Steven Joyce. The… ...

“Nick Smith has got to fess up and tell us what is happening to his much vaunted RMA reform, Labour’s Environment spokesperson Megan Woods says. “With just a day and a half to go before the polls open in Northland,… ...

Massive pay rises at the State Services Commission prove National’s claims of clamping down on spending in the public sector are simply fantasy, Labour’s State Services spokesman Kris Faafoi says. “Salaries in this one department are almost $70,000 more than… ...

The Christchurch City Council is seeking public feedback on its proposed 10 year plan for Council revenue and spending. This is probably one of the most significant 10 year plans ever to be written by a local council because of… ...

Labour wants stab proof vests and pepper spray for all corrections officers to keep them safe from the epidemic of serious prison assaults that are occurring around the country’s jails, says Labour’s Corrections Spokesperson Kelvin Davis. “There have been five… ...

Minister Hekia Parata needs to understand what consultation is, Port Hills MP Ruth Dyson says. “It means you have to listen to what people say in their submissions and then be able to demonstrate you have considered their views when… ...

Let’s celebrate and thank our caregivers. This week is caregivers’ week. It’s a chance to acknowledge the thousands of women, and occasional other person, who are caring for the elderly and disabled in our country. They hold people’s lives in… ...

Labour MP for Mana Kris Faafoi has welcomed the move to place the services from the Mana Post shop to a local small business. “This is the best outcome for the community we could ask for. All the vital services… ...

Labour is moving to restore the rights of Kiwis to take tea and rest breaks, Leader Andrew Little says. “Within months of the Government’s Employment Relations Amendment Bill becoming law we are already seeing some of our largest companies, including… ...

At last the UN has spoken out against the widely-used weedkiller Roundup. The UN’s International Agency for Research on Cancer has identified glyphosate, the principle ingredient in Roundup, as a probable carcinogen. They also include as probable carcinogens the insecticides&hellip; ...

Our photo journey started by the Waioweka (also known as Waioeka) River which flows from Te Urewera to Opotiki, and is surrounded by beautiful forest. The water looked great! Kopeopeo Canal It contrasted greatly with the Kopeopeo Canal near Whakatane,… ...

As Dyslexia week comes to a close, Dyslexia NZ have reminded us that around 10% of our citizens are dyslexic and are entitled to better support. One of their strongest arguments is that failure to provide identification and support for… ...

Today marks Race Relations Day in New Zealand. Race Relations Day coincides with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The United Nations General Assembly chose this day as it marks the day in 1960 when 69 peaceful… ...

The knife-edge election in Israel complicates the Middle East situation, even more than usual. The Prime Minister-elect, Binyamin Netanyahu, is moving to form a government. Netanyahu has indicated that, during his term, a Palestinian state would not be established. That… ...

The Green Party has a vision of a liveable, accessible Christchurch with a sense of identity and strong connected communities. Instead, 2013 census figures released by Statistics New Zealand reveal a fractured community, and tell a story of frustrated Christchurch commuters… ...

The Green Party is calling on the New Zealand Super Fund to divest their $140 million investment in coal companies that are vulnerable to becoming financially stranded according to a damning new report from Oxford University. The Smith School of… ...

The adage about the first casualty of war being truth is one that might often be applied to the political battle for hearts and minds, and of course votes. A rather unfortunate example of this has been arriving in the… ...

Over the last few weeks I’ve been wondering how safe our income support system is for people, especially those with cognitive or learning disabilities. I’ve been trying to support a young man who was severely injured in a workplace accident… ...

Over the weekend thousands of Aucklanders flocked to celebrate our city’s diverse Pacific communities and cultures at the annual Pasifika festival and the Greens were there to join them. The Pasifika festival has been held every year for 23… ...

It was heartening to see a large number of people who care about the Marlborough Sounds come together at the Marlborough Marine Futures’ forum in Picton on March 8. Fellow Green MP Steffan Browning, who lives in Marlborough, and I… ...

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The government has taken a crucial step in improving the country’s animal welfare laws by announcing a ban on cosmetics testing on animals as part of the new Animal Welfare Act. The ban is a huge milestone victory for cruelty… ...

WELLINGTON (xx March 2015) - New Zealand has joined the growing list of progressive nations to ban cruel animal testing of cosmetics, following a two year campaign by #BeCrueltyFree New Zealand. An amendment to the Animal Welfare Act similar to… ...

The Royal Commission has now been in operation for more than two years. We have completed the public hearings for 25 case studies which in most cases have been concerned with the failure of institutions to manage their affairs to… ...

The responses victims and perpetrators of violence receive from professionals, family members and the wider community are key in generating safety and recovery for victims and accountability for perpetrators. Socially just and effective responses to violence; ...

While most of the country has been focused on the cricket world cup, cyclone Pam and tourists’ driving habits, Closing the Gap www.closingthegap.org.nz is reminding kiwis to say “no way” to the TPPA unless we know and accept what is… ...

As Vanuatu’s schools officially reopen UNICEF and its partners are supporting the Government of Vanuatu to provide assistance to 30,000 school-aged children from early childhood to secondary school level who have been affected by Category 5 Tropical ...

The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Government to abandon its KiwiSaver HomeStart programme and instead tackle the regulatory taxes strangling the housing market. Boosted entitlements to the first home buyers subsidy programme come into effect ...

The University of Auckland’s plans to celebrate the Magna Carta’s 800th Anniversary in New Zealand are well under way. Associate Professor Jennifer Lees-Marshment has been awarded a £10,000 grant by the UK Government’s Magna Carta Trust to create ...

An ugly incident of racial abuse on a Wellington bus last week has led to an apology from the perpetrator and expressions of forgiveness from some Kiwi Muslim leaders. “It’s encouraging to see this turnaround in such a short time,… ...